


Lilac is Lighter than Bruises

by xRaeHatesYoux



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: AU, Abuse, Fluffy, Library AU, M/M, Short Story, book store au, larry stylinson - Freeform, not between louis and harry
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-11-15
Updated: 2015-11-15
Packaged: 2018-05-01 19:54:04
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,712
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5218760
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/xRaeHatesYoux/pseuds/xRaeHatesYoux
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The one where Harry is with an abusive asshole that doesn't treat him right. His best friend, Ed, knows all about it.<br/>Louis works at a library/cafe with Ed, and Harry goes there every day. Louis falls in love with the boy in the baggy sweaters. Liam and Niall are there for the ride.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Lilac is Lighter than Bruises

**Author's Note:**

> Well! You've clicked on this even with the awful description! Thank you, and I hope you enjoy.  
> ~Rachel

He's cute.  
Extremely so, and I've had the pleasure of seeing him everyday for the past two weeks.  
He mainly wears big, baggy knit sweaters, paired with skin-tight, black skinny jeans. They probably couldn't even be called skinny jeans, probably considered jeggings. Well, I definitely didn't mind. They hugged his cute little bum in an unexplainable way.  
He always had brown, scuffed up boots on his feet. A lighter brown than the beautiful curls that hung down to his shoulders.  
He was tall, I probably only come up to his ruby red lips. I love watching him curl up in a ball in one of the big, cozy chairs we have here in the library. His sea-green eyes travel along the words of whichever book he's chosen to read that day. I like to think that he would curl up the same way if we were to snuggle up in bed on a Sunday evening.  
"Louis? Louis! You're supposed to sort out the Stephen King section today, what're you doing?"  
"What? Oh god, sorry," I groaned, coming from my thoughts of the beautiful boy sitting in his usual chair, just beside the horror section.  
"Maeve said that the Stephen King section needed sorting, Kenzie, Paige and I have sorted through half of the kid's section. You're doing this," Liam says, and pushes me from behind the counter.  
"Why can't someone help me?" I whine, turning back around and pouting at the taller boy. The Stephen King section was massive, took up about a fifth of the horror section. And to sort through the entire thing would feel like forever.  
"Because Kenzie and Paige took their break now and they're making out in the back room and I need to watch the counter, now go," Liam rolls his eyes and turns back around to greet the young girl that had placed Catching Fire on the counter, "oh, and go check on Ed, see how he's holding up with the cafe, it's really new for him. See if he needs some help,"  
"Li, it's really new for all of us. Not just Ed," I laugh and start making my way to the horror section.  
"Yes, but you don't have to run it, now do you? Who's running it? Ed. So, go see if he needs any help," Liam snaps back. Ah, the joys of annoying Liam Payne. It doesn't take much.  
"Yes, my love," I blow him a kiss and give him a sarcastic smile before I disappear behind a book shelf.  
"Don't call me that, Louis!" I hear him call back.  
"Whatever you say, sweetie!" I giggle back sarcastically and turn to face the monstrously large horror section with a sigh.   
***  
It only took half an hour for me to get through the entire section, and yes, I was right. It felt like forever.  
But now I was making my way to the back corner of the library, where Maeve, the woman who owns the library, had opened a new little cafe. It was Ed, her grandson and one of my best friend's, who ran it. And so far, it was quite popular. It had a door to the road and a door that connected the library to it. It was a fantastic idea, and it's only been two weeks with it there.  
"Hello, Sheerio!" I called as I walked into the dimly light room. Ed looked up from the expresso he was making and grinned.  
"Hey, Tommo," He mumbles back.  
"Liam has informed me that you may need help," I walked behind the counter and waved to Halie, the other girl that works in the cafe, "so I'm here to help,"  
"You could take orders, if you wanted," he shrugged, "but we're not too busy, I think Li just wanted to get rid of you," he began laughing and he continues to make the expresso.  
"Oh, hush, I'm a great asset to this team we've got going on," I scoffed, "so, do you actually need help or can I go back and stare at the beautiful curly boy that reads romance novels every day?"  
"Wait, who do you want to stare at?" Ed had a half smirk, half amused look on his face, temporarily forgetting about his job.  
"Uhm, this really cute guy that's in here every day," I said, "have you seen him? He sits in one of the chairs that you can see from the front counter by the horror section, he comes in here too. I've seen him with lattes from here, he only started coming in when the cafe opened, actually,"  
Ed began laughing, actually laughing. Straight in my face.  
"What?!" I snapped, my face contorted in annoyance.  
"Louis! That's my best friend Harry!" Ed giggled out after a moment of catching his breath.  
"Oh. Well, what's so funny about that? Does he have like a 'super hot' girlfriend or something? You think it's funny because he's not gay?"  
"No, no. He's definitely gay, but he has a boyfriend. A boyfriend that doesn't treat him very well at all, but a boyfriend none-the-less," Ed grimaces, and passes the expresso he's been making to the girl who was tapping her fingers on the counter impatiently.  
"And that was funny because...?" I grumble as the girl pays.  
"I guess it wasn't really funny, I just... I can totally see you two hit it off, but Alistair would not be happy with him if I introduced you two," Ed turns his attention back to me after he gives the girl her change and wishes her a good day. "It just struck me weird that of course you would find him cute, because, well for one, he is. And that's coming from a straight guy, and two, you two are almost too compatible. It's odd," He continued.   
"And Alistair is the boyfriend, I presume?" I cross my arms.  
"Yeah, not a very good one either," he looks at the floor with a thoughtful look on his face.  
"You've said that... What's so bad about him?" I tilt my head to the side in wonderment.  
"Most things, I don't really think it'd be very smart to tell you," he shrugs and asks Halie to wash the mugs on the counter.  
"Okay, okay... So you can't introduce me to Harry?" I ask with pursed lips.  
"Well, it wouldn't be a very good idea, I don't think... But then again, he could probably use a little bit more socializing. Alistair doesn't let him have a lot of friends. And Harry comes in here everyday, so he could talk to you when he comes in,"  
"Yes! I think that's a fantastic idea!" I grin and Ed rolls his eyes.  
"You only think that because you think he's cute," Ed turns to face the counter again when he hears the door 'ding' in alarm that someone had come in.  
"Yeah, so, nothing wrong with me wanting to talk to a cute boy," I shrug.  
"A taken 'cute' boy, I'm not happy that he's in the relationship he is, but that doesn't change the fact that he is," Ed shakes his head.  
"Who says I'm gonna make a move? It'll be completely platonic, it just helps that he's extremely attractive,"  
"Yes, but I know you, and I know him, and I have a feeling you two will get along a little too well," Ed sighs and shoos me away as the customer walks up to the counter.  
"Okay, bye Ed, text me if you need a hand,"  
***  
*To: Mr. Sheerio  
so ed. you should really introduce me to curly when youre on break*  
*To: Lou the Tommo  
my break's in 20 minutes. Ill be over, still not a good idea, you know, I told you that yesterday. why don't you listen to me*  
*To: Mr. Sheerio  
idc hes cute and he looks lonely*  
***  
"Hey, H!" I could hear Ed exclaim from across the room, I looked up to see him standing in front of Harry with a tray of drinks in his hand. He set the tray of three drinks down on the small coffee table in front of Harry.  
Harry had chosen to look extra cute today, in a lilac sweater and his signature tight-as-hell jeans. His long hair was up in a bun, and let me tell you. He rocked the man bun.  
"Oh, hey Ed," He grinned up at the other boy and put a bookmark in his book. Today he was reading Eleanor & Park by Rainbow Rowell, it was popular amongst teen girls. It was a mystery as to why he enjoyed all these romance novels for teens.  
"Good book?" Ed asked and glanced in my direction.  
"Yeah, I'm enjoying it. I think I'm going to have to go home early tonight, though. Probably won't get to finish it, Alistair is supposed to get home early tonight and he wants me there when he gets there," his voice was deep and intriguing. He spoke slow, and each word sounded like honey coming out of his mouth.  
"Shame, why don't you take the book out?" Ed asks and takes a seat next to him.  
"Because Alistair doesn't like when I read, says it's neglecting him or something," Harry shrugs and looks at the book in his hand.  
"Oh..." a silence falls over the two and Ed leans forward and picks up two of the three mugs on the tray, "I brought you tea, pumpkin chai with one sweetener,"  
"Ah, you know me so well," Harry grins and takes the mug from Ed's hands. He had a beautiful smile, now was the first time I'd seen it and it was a damn shame that I hadn't seen it before.  
"Yeah, I also brought Yorkshire for Louis over there," Ed pointed to me, "I think you two would get along really well. Lou! You want to come here for a second?"  
They both turned to me and only now was I aware that I had been staring at them this entire time. Oh, well.  
"Hi, I'm Louis," I grinned as I walked over to them. Harry grinned back just as big and took a sip of his tea.  
"Hello, I'm Harry," he mumbled back, shyly. My heart stuttered in my chest, this boy was just too cute.

**Author's Note:**

> This is going to be extremely short, with two, maybe three chapters. I was going to make it a one shot, but then it felt right to have a few chapters to it.  
> Thanks for reading.


End file.
